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ThunderCats 1980s
ThunderCats is an American animated series that ran from 1985 to 1989. It was produced by Rankin/Bass Productions based on characters created by Ted Wolf. The show consisted of a total of 130 episodes which were split into four seasons. Production Ted Wolf had an idea about creating an animated show based on humanoid cats. During the early 1980s, he and his friend Stan Weston (then President of Leisure Concepts Inc. (LCI), presented the proposal to Rankin/Bass, who were a reputed animation company, known for their animated season television specials. Impressed with Wolf's concept, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, the founders of Rankin/Bass Productions, approved it and production immediately began on "Thundercats". Acclaimed comic book writer Leonard Starr was hired as the head writer to develop the characters, stories and world of the ThunderCats. Mike Germakian of LCI provided the artwork as well as designing the characters and vehicles. He is the man responsible for creating the iconic Thundercats logo which consists of a black lion head inside n a red circle. Peter Lawrence served as script consultant while Lee Dannacher acted as the supervising producer. Animation Like most of the animated shows produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, the animation of Thundercats was done in Japan by the company Pacific Animation Corporation (PAC). The head of PAC was Masaki Iizuka, who supervised the production of Thundercats. Thundercats was animated using the traiditional "2D cel animation" technique. Since the show was targetted at an American audience, special attention was given to make sure that the look of the show did not resemble "Anime", which was very popular in Japanese animation. The script writing and voice recordings were done in America and these would then be sent to PAC to be animated. After the animation was done, the completed episode would be sent back to America to be broadcast. Music The music for Thundercats was scored by American composer, Bernard Hoffer. He composed and recorded a number of leitmotifs for each of the main characters, vehicles and locations as well as for certain situations. These "themes" utilised a number of different but distinct musical instruments in order to make each theme as unique as possible e.g "Cheetara's Theme" is played mostly on flutes whereas "Tygra's Theme" consists of mostly trumpets. Hoffer also composed the show's theme song in collaboration with James Lipton, who is better known as the host of the show, "Inside The Actors Studio". The lyrics were written by Jules Bass. Thundercats Theme/Title Song Lyrics Lion-O: Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats, Ho Thundercats are on the move Thundercats are loose Feel the magic, hear the roar Thundercats are loose Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats! Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats! Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats! Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats! Thundercats! Cast and Crew *'Executive Producers:' Arthur Rankin Jr. & Jules Bass *'Supervising Producer:' Lee Dannacher *'Animation by:' Pacific Animation Corporation *'In Charge of Production:' Masaki Iizuka *'Animation Staff:' **Tsugu Kubo **Minoru Nishida **Katsuhito Akiyama **Akihiko Takahashi **Yukimatsu Ito **Yuji Yatabe **Toshihiko Sato **Kazufumi Nomura **Ryo Yasumura **Tameo Kohanawa **Seok Ki Kim *'Based on Characters Created by:' Ted Wolf *'Project Development:' Leisure Concepts Inc. *'Head Writer:' Leonard Starr *'Music:' Bernard Hoffer *'Script Consultant': Peter Lawrence *'Psychological Consultant:' Robert Kuisis PhD *'Voice Characterizations:' **Earl Hammond **Larry Kenney **Lynne Lipton **Earle Hyman **Peter Newman **Gerrianne Raphael **Doug Preis *'Recording Staff:' **John Curcio - Dialogue **Michael Farrow - Music **Tom Perkins - Editorial **Larry Franke - Editorial **Michael Ungar - Editorial **John Crenshaw - Editorial **Pete Cannarozzi - Effects *'Secondary Character Designs: ' **Jim Meskimen **Michael Germakian **Bob Camp **Pepe Moreno *'Production Staff:' **Tony Giovanniello **Matthew Malach **Connie Long **Heather Winters **Peter Bakalian **Dennis J. Woodyard **Karen Seigel **Charles Hasegawa **Eleanor Musiol *'Writers:' **Leonard Starr **Peter Lawrence **Ron Goulart **Julian P. Gardner **Barney Cohen **William Overgard **Stephen Perry **Bob Haney **Howard Post **C.H. Trengove **Kimberly B. Morris **J. Larry Carroll **Bill Ratter **Lee Schneider **Matthew Malach **Sandy Fries **George Hampton **Mike Moore **Bruce Smith **Herb Englehardt **Dennis J. Woodyard **Beth Bornstein **Douglas Bernstein **Denis Markell **Danny Peary **Kenneth E. Vose **Jeri Craden **Lawrence DuKore **Annabelle Gurwitch **Heather M. Winters **Romeo Muller **James Rose **Becky Hartman **David Carren Premise The show centers around the ThunderCats, a group of heroic humanoid cats who, after the destruction of their home planet Thundera, are forced to look for a new home, which they find on Third Earth. However, they are closely pursued by their arch enemies, the Mutants, who seek to obtain the Eye of Thundera, the source of the ThunderCats' powers. In order to achieve their goal, the Mutants ally with an evil entity known as Mumm-Ra. The rest of the show focuses on the battle between the good ThunderCats and the evil Mutants and Mumm-Ra. Characters Thundercats (1980s) Characters}} Episodes External Links *ThunderCats on IMDb *ThunderCats on Wikipedia *ThunderCats official page on Facebook *Official site of Rankin/Bass Category:ThunderCats (1980s)